“I used to teach that with listening. It’s the greatest gift you could give someone — to listen to them, because we so often aren’t listened to.”

Throughout our interview sessions, Mary continuously reflected back to me how much it touched her heart to be listened to. It led me to think about how the divide between our youth and our elders has only gotten bigger over the years. Many of our elders are left behind and forgotten about. In my time working at an assisted living center, I saw first-hand how lonely many of my residents were. While some were lucky to get occasional visits by family, many were left to their lonesome, with no other choice but to spend their days watching game shows and doing crossword puzzles. On the other hand, most of the aging and elderly population across the world lives out the remainder of their lives at home with their children and extended family, creating a space where life lessons can be passed on from generation to generation.

It’s easy to get fooled by the fractures outlining their faces and the sleepy movements of their muscles, but our elders’ lives in their yesterday’s weren’t much different from our today’s. The story of humanity repeats itself endlessly, just in different clothes. While my friends and I were once 17, lighting candles, burning sage, and begging tarot cards for an answer, my grandma and her friends were huddled in a dorm room, manifesting dates with a crystal ball. Life goes by quickly, and yet it only takes a second to turn the clock back in our memories. I’ve been told many times by the elders in my life that they still feel 25 inside, even though their body no longer does. Your face changes, yet somehow you still feel the same. So the next time an opportunity comes along to spend time with an elder: linger a little longer, listen a little harder, and just maybe the wisdom of the past will become your own because there are nuggets of gold amidst all the stones.